(Ken Silva, Headline USA) New footage of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol Hill uprising has been released, showing a man firing a pistol twice into the air. That man, who’s been identified as John Emanuel Banuelos, has yet to be charged for his actions.
The footage was released Thursday by former West Virginia lawmaker and current congressional candidate Derrick Evans, who pled guilty to disorderly conduct and trespassing on Capitol grounds in March 2022.
According to Evans, Banuelos’s gunshots “started it all.” He contended that Capitol Police began firing teargas into the crowd right after the gunshots at 2:30 p.m. on Jan. 6. All hell broke loose soon thereafter.
Other Jan. 6 researchers argued with Evans that the gunshots were fired after the rioting had already begun.
Either way, all agreed that Evans’s footage was incredible. Observers wondered how footage of gunshots could be kept from the public for more than three years.
Perhaps even more incredible is the fact that Banuelos has yet to be charged for his role in Jan. 6.
Banuelos was first in the public spotlight in February 2022, when news broke that he had been arrested in relation to a fatal stabbing of a 19-year-old in a Utah park in July 2021.
When he was arrested, he reportedly told police about his activities on Jan. 6.
“Man, should I just tell the FBI to come get me or what …?” Banuelos, 39, asked detectives, according to a transcript of the interview obtained by KSL.com through a public records request.
“Do you have a warrant?” one detective asked.
“Probably,” he said. “I was in the D.C. riots.”
“On Jan. 6?” the other detective asked. “Did you go inside the Capitol?”
“Yeah, I went inside and I’m the one with the video with the gun right here,” Banuelos said.
Sedition Hunters, the group that is helping the FBI hunt down Jan. 6 prosecutors, has a file on Banuelos. One of the most interesting videos of him is from what appears to be the night before the rally, when he reveals his history of mental-health problems.
“Now I’ve got a purpose … Democrats just give you free stuff and they don’t tell you you’re crazy. How many hospitals have I been to? How many mental hospitals? Because I thought I had a problem … Now I’ve got to reprogram my brain and be humble … I’m willing to play my role. Are you willing to play yours?” he said in the video.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
